We were at the Island for the past several days, and, despite many photo opps, I took only one photo which didn't turn out. Its subject was remarkable. After dark, my husband discovered a phosphorescent branch in one of the brush piles, distinctly glowing! As I write this, I wish I had investigated the phenomena more thoroughly. What chemistry would cause something as organic as a branch to glow in the dark?
But back to France...I have already mentioned l'Abbaye de Jumièges the first of three former monasteries that we saw in close succession. The second, Abbaye St George de Boscherville, managed to retain at least its Romanesque church, and based on an old document, someone had the brilliant idea of recreating its monastic gardens as they were in the 18th century.
The first photo shows the view from the upper garden today and the second is a reproduction of the document from 1723 that was used to recreate the gardens.
The day we were there the light was amazing. The sun, behind clouds, was luminous.
Very windy too I recall. The gardens seemed to still be under development, but except for all the lettuce, it felt like a very authentic variety of fruit trees, root and garden vegetables, and herbs. Did the monks really eat a huge amount of lettuce every day?
Posted by: neverted | July 10, 2013 at 10:20 AM
Me thinks that the glowing-in-the-dark you saw was the result of a mold or something similar; e.g. alive, and most probably a plant of some kind, but very small, small enough to make individual members all but invisible.
Posted by: David Briggs | July 11, 2013 at 02:24 AM
Curiously, the captcha included the word Nuns.
Posted by: David Briggs | July 11, 2013 at 02:25 AM